午夜剧场

Since 2001, I have been conducting fieldwork among pastoralists living in Ethiopia. They are nomads who lead a migratory life with their livestock. When I asked them, "Why do you move?" people often replied, "Because the air here has become bad." Many people might think that pastoralists move out of necessity—that they wander in search of resources because the grass for their livestock has run out. However, that is merely a conjecture based on a sedentary-centric perspective.

For example, it has been pointed out that in Africa, sedentary agricultural societies have a lot of sorcery, while migratory pastoral societies have little. For sedentary people who must continue living with the same person in one place, it is difficult to direct their feelings toward an unpleasant neighbor. Therefore, they attempt to resolve conflicts in human relationships using supernatural powers. In contrast, nomads suspend conflict by one party leaving the shared living space and moving their residence elsewhere. Even if there is someone you dislike, if you do not see their face for a while, your irritated mood will likely soften. For nomads, maintaining physical interpersonal distance through movement is a primary means of adjusting human relationships.

Anthropologist Masaki Nishida emphasizes the multi-functionality of movement by nomads and points out that nomads themselves also engage in "movement as a habit." This point is well understood by those who have experience living with pastoralists for a long time. Even if there is plenty of grass and no problems with human relationships in the village, they may move to a location just a few hundred meters away. It seems that people feel some kind of discomfort in simply staying in the same space. The aforementioned phrase "the air has become bad" is an expression that well conveys their physical sensations.

With the spread of the new coronavirus, determining the "appropriate way to maintain distance" from others and the environment has become an important issue for humanity. Fieldwork, which is the primary methodology of anthropology—my major—seems likely to be difficult to conduct for the time being. This is because talking to research subjects face-to-face is a defining element of fieldwork. For a while, I would like to use my existing field data to deepen my analysis of what "appropriate distance" means to nomads, who are masters of movement.